SocGen reported a Q2 underlying group net income of €1.35bn ($1.6bn) vs. only €8mn ($9.5mn) in Q2 last year. For the half year, they reported net income of €2.65bn ($3.1bn), up 13.5% vs. 1H2019 and nil profits during the same period last year. The bank reported no impairment losses on goodwill as compared to €684mn ($812mn) in both Q2 and H1 as compared to the same periods last year. The bank guided for revenues to increase across all businesses going forward. Also, the bank’s cost of risk fell to 11bp vs 21bp QoQ. Investment Banking revenues grew 24% YoY. The group’s CET1 ratio stood at 13.4%, down 10bp over the previous quarter.
StanChart reported a 51% YoY jump in its Q2 net profits to $829mn, and an 81% jump in H1 net profits to $1.93bn. Profits were boosted by a release of $47mn in credit impairments in H1 as compared to a charge of $1.57bn during the same period last year. The bank’s Wealth Management unit reported a record first half performance, up 23% and its Transaction Banking Trade income rose 16%, its strongest half since 2018. The bank’s NIM was flat at 1.22%. The bank’s CET1 ratio stood at 14.1%, up 10bp QoQ. StanChart CFO Andy Halford announced, “We’ve said today that we’ll do another quarter of a billion dollar buyback, we actually did a quarter of a billion buyback earlier this year, so it’s the second time this year.”
